Max Abadian

The judges are at odds in this results episode of Canada’s Best Beauty Talent, which is kind of exciting. Coco Rocha loves Matt and Jenna’s wet hair and cat eye makeup, but “the mean one,” Flare editor-in-chief Lisa Tant, is not into it at all. YSL makeup artist Eden Bluestein and Tant think Marcia didn’t brow block correctly (they feel it doesn’t look smooth because she hasn’t combed the brows enough), while photographer Max Abadian digs the treatment. Everyone’s full of opinions this week—we even get to hear a post-judging rant from Isabelle, who thinks the judges are approaching the competition like it is some big joke. In full melodramatic mode, she goes so far as to refer to doing hair as her raison d’etre.

Let’s be honest: this show hasn’t been great so far. Sure, makeup contestant Marcia has taught us how to make a face beautiful (see here and here), and we’ve gotten a few giggles out of Coco Rocha’s robotic delivery (see here,here and here), but the show has been short on the kind of entertainment that keeps audiences begging for more. (Sorry, but intentionally flubbing the catchphrase “ready, set, style!” by saying “ready, set, don’t style!” is just painful to watch.) We were even thinking of giving up on it—and then internationally renowned photographer Max Abadian came on for this week’s Flare cover shoot challenge, and what a difference he makes. Abadian’s presence adds something to the show that has been lacking: action. The contestants are tasked with the challenge of creating the perfect high fashion cover look, which they have 45 minutes to finish before heading straight to Abadian for the shoot. The six remaining contestants struggle to keep their models’ head still enough to work simultaneously (turns out it’s tricky to do delicate makeup application while someone else is jerking her hair around), and when it comes time for the shoot, we witness some seriously impressive eye rolls from makeup contestant Cait. (We love you Cait!)